Paddy Compass Namatbara | National Museum of Australia

Alardju clan, Iwaidja language, Duwa moiety

Black and white photograph portrait of a man. - click to view larger image — Paddy Compass Namatbara

1890–1973

Namatbara was one of the group of artists on Minjilang (Croker Island) during the 1960s that included Yirawala, Jimmy Midjawmidjaw (1897–about 1985) and January Nangunyari Namiridali. Their work was collected by Dorothy Bennett, Karel Kupka, and Ronald and Catherine Berndt, who commissioned images of sorcery and magic. Paintings of this type had been banned by the missionaries, but they represent an important aspect of the art styles of western Arnhem Land.

Namatbara’s paintings are held in several major public collections in Australia, and in collections in Paris and Geneva, and at the University of Virginia.

Paintings in the exhibition

A bark painting worked with ochres on bark. It depicts a male and female figure in the act of intercourse. The figures have white heads and arms with crosshatched designs on the rest of their bodies in black, white, red and yellow. They both have small white feathery or plant-like appendages growing from the perimeters of their bodies. The painting has a background of natural bark. - click to view larger image — *Cursing the Lovers*

A bark painting worked with ochres on bark. It depicts a female Mimi figure on the left and a male Mimi figure on the right. Both have one hand raised and their legs crossed and twisted. They are painted white with decorations of parallel lines in red, black and yellow. The painting has a red background. - click to view larger image — *Mimih Spirits*

A bark painting worked with ochres on bark. It depcits two male Mimi spirits dancing. Each figure has his head thrown back, a hand over his mouth and his legs crossed and twisted. The figures are painted white with red outlines and have red, black and yellow parallel lines on their bodies. The painting has a red background. - click to view larger image — Two Mimih Spirits Dancing

A bark painting worked with ochres on bark. It depicts two dancing male Mimi spirit figures. Each figure has one hand on his hip and the other touching the other's body. The figures are decorated with oblique dotted cross-bands. The painting has a natural background. - click to view larger image — *Two Mimih Spirits Dancing*

January Nangunyari Namiridali

Fred Didjbaralkka Narroldol

Bobby Barrdjaray Nganjmirra

Jimmy Nakkurridjdjilmi Nganjmirra

Jimmy Wululu

A Change Is Gonna Come

Lustre: Pearling & Australia

Aboriginal breastplates

Defining Moments

Join & support

All these bark paintings are part of the National Museum of Australia’s collection. © the artist or the artist’s estate, licensed by Aboriginal Artists Agency 2013, unless otherwise specified. These images must not be reproduced in any form without permission.

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